Theodore Cruse had traveled a long way to reach this remote spot on the Tibetan plateau. His journey had taken him through the deserted wilderness, over ice-covered fields, and up the sides of tall mountains. His guides were the tough natives of Nepal. Known as Sherpas, they did more than just show him the way. They carted his gear, helped him make his camp, and cooked his meals. They didn't share the same language or the same country, but Knight did share with them a sense of awe and respect for the natural world.

They were tough people, these Sherpas, but they were gentle, too. Cruse discovered that they were also very superstitious. They believed that certain routes were bad luck and they often took the more difficult way to avoid any disasters. As they moved along, the Sherpas kept looking over their shoulders as if they were afraid of being followed. Occasionally, Cruse heard them speak the same word over and over. It sounded like "yeddi" or "yeti." Cruse figured it was probably some sort of good luck charm.

Since the beginning of the journey, the Sherpas had rarely left Cruse alone, which annoyed him somewhat. Part of what he liked about being out in the wilderness was the chance to be alone. Absolute solitude-that's what Cruse was looking for. He needed time away from his busy life in London. But he had precious little time alone on this trip.

The sun was just setting as they reached the top of the plateau. Cruse gestured to the Sherpas to go ahead of him. He decided to stay for just a moment to survey the splendor that lay before him. The Sherpas protested, saying that strange "yeddi" word again.

"Go, go!" Cruse said, waving them on in the hope that would understand. "Make camp," he said, making gestures to indicate what he wanted them to do. "I will join you by and by." The Sherpas looked reluctant, even a bit fearful, but they followed his instructions and headed toward the center of the plateau where they had planned to make camp.

Cruse stood and watched the glint of the sun as if reflected off the snowy fields. The sight before hi was simply incredible. The grandeur of the scene made him feel as if all of his problems were small and insignificant-just as he was in this great expanse. And then Cruse saw something on the horizon.

It looked like a large brown speck-some sort of animal perhaps. It moved ever so slowly on the edge of a snow-covered field. "That's odd," Cruse said to himself. "There aren't many animals of that size at this altitude." Cruse pulled out his field glasses and focused them on the brown speck.

What he saw amazed him. A huge ape-like creature, covered in a kind of yellow fur with a shock of dark hair on its head, moved slowly against the snowy background. As Cruse later wrote, "The muscular development in his arms, thighs, legs, and chest was terrific. He had in his hand what seemed to be some form of a primitive bow."

Cruse watched, spellbound. The creature seemed unaware of him. Instead, it was focused on something else on the other side of the hill, perhaps a smaller animal that would be his prey. Cruse squinted to see through the field glasses, trying to get good look at the creature's face.

Then Cruse heard a shrill scream from just ahead of him. It was one of the Sherpas. "Yeti!" the man screamed and he quickly scrambled down the embankment. The creature below must have heard him, because it raced down the hill at an incredible speed. The Sherpa grabbed Cruse roughly. "What is the meaning of this?" Cruse asked.

But the Sherpa was forceful. He threw Cruse over his shoulder and carried him up toward camp. Later, when he returned to the base camp, Cruse learned more about what he had seen. The creature, an interpreter explained, had been the fearsome Yeti that the Sherpas had been chanting about. Though incredible, the Sherpa people had told stories about the loathsome creature for years. Some said that the Yeti had been known to attack children, stealing them from their homes. The Yeti had also been blamed for the deaths of many Sherpa guides, not to mention a few English explorers as well.

But his blood grew cold when he heard the last fact about the Yeti: The Sherpas claimed that if a person looked at the Yeti's face, that person would die a horrible, painful death.

That was what the Sherpa guide had been trying to tell Cruse. Although Cruse was never sure whether he had been facing imminent death at that moment on the plateau when he caught sight of the Yeti, he was quite sure of what he had seen. And he would be forever grateful to his Sherpa guides for quite possibly saving his life. He had no idea what he was getting himself into in the beginning and know that he is thinking about it he is glad they were with him so he didn't die.

All that rippling muscle and bone could easily have torn Cruse apart as if he were the size and strength of a toothpick. He shivers at the thought of becoming another creature's meal. No there is no need to think of those things right now, he tells himself. I am alive and that is all that matters right now. However, he feels the need to rid the Sherpas of their terrible burden to keep looking over their shoulders to make sure that their certain death by Yeti is not following them for a quick supper. 
 
He goes up into the mountains without the guide of the Sherpas. He needs to watch his step, though, or else he could fall prey to more than just a Yeti. There's hidden caves and things that you fall through and break a leg or something that would spell disaster and certain death for the traveler. Cruse also brings along his most valued shotgun and loaded it with a ton of ammo. He thinks that if he comes away alive at all, then he will have a nice trophy to show off in his home.

Cruse soon finds footprints of the beast and starts to track it through the mountains. Eventually he comes up to a stream on the mountain with a cave-like hole in the side of the mountain. This must be its lair, he thinks to himself. He refills his canteen and treks up to the cave. Before he can even enter, Cruse is startled by a noise coming down the mountainside he just came from.

Running toward him at full speed, was the Yeti. It looked angry at not being able to kill him the day before when the Sherpa was there to save him. Now all alone, Cruse had nothing else to do but to raise his shotgun and to defend himself as best he could. When it was close enough he shot at it and scored it in the shoulder and the thigh, but it would not go down without a fight. It knocked Cruse off his feet and he landed with a thud in the snow. He laid there helplessly stunned from the force of the impact of the creature's forearm against his chest.

Cruse was sure something was broken. A rib maybe. Just then the creature filled his whole field of vision as it looked down at him with eyes full of malice and hate. With his failing strength, Cruse lifted his shotgun and quickly fired three shots into the creature. It was struck twice in the chest near where the heart might be and once in the stomach that is sure to cause some major internal bleeding. It roared and staggered back, shaking a little. Oh great, thought Cruse, I am going to be crushed by this giant beast when he falls on me.

Instead it falls backward, and bleeds the last of its life away into the snow. Cruse regained himself and made sure the Yeti was dead. He then went and fetched some Sherpas who were eternally grateful for what Theodore had done. They brought in a helicopter and air lifted the Yeti's body away to be stuffed and cleaned. When Cruse was finally home with his Yeti, he felt like he had done it all by killing a most fearsome beast. However, he still can feel the Yeti's presence as if the creature's soul was haunting him trying to figure out a way to get revenge. When the wind howls at night he feels especially aware of the creature, but he doesn't worry too much about it because he knows it is dead. But how do you know that it didn't leave children behind. There could be more of them stalking the Sherpas.